


I couldn't let her leave

by mccracken (worthlesstoone)



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 04:31:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14072952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worthlesstoone/pseuds/mccracken
Summary: Lee needs to talk to Ed about something before she can consider teaming up with him





	I couldn't let her leave

Cherry's was closed during the day and the usually loud locale was dead silent. It was strange being there before dark, the usually musty building had sunlight streaming in the large windows. It almost looked like a welcoming place, if you didn't know where all the stains in the ring were from.

  
One man sat at the abandoned bar, nursing a bloody nose and a headache. He groaned, and fixed himself a drink without getting up. Hopefully the alcohol would numb the pain.

  
Lee Thompkins walked in, bringing an ice pack and a glare. "You are aware that alcohol will make your headache worse?"

  
Ed Nygma looked up at her, rolled his eyes, then continued to fix his green beverage. Lee managed to look even more frustrated and dropped off the ice pack in front of the tall man. He snatched it and pressed it against his nose and almost moaned in relief. Lee sat down next to him.

  
"Want to tell me what happened, or is your pride more bruised than your face?"

  
"I... may have miscalculated." Ed said carefully, not making eye contact with the doctor. "I thought I could talk someone into betting more money on Grundy. They disagreed."

  
"And they punched you." Lee looked unimpressed.

  
"I may have told them if they didn't bet on the big guy they're an idiot." Ed smirked, then winced as his nose throbbed.

  
"What is with you and talking down to people so much?" Lee asked. She took a sip of Ed's Grasshopper then frowned and put the green drink back. She pulled a flask out of her pocket and took a swig, effectively washing the bad taste out of her mouth.

  
Ed shrugged, focusing once more on icing his swollen nose. It was quiet for a couple minutes.

  
"Remember that time you punched me in the face?"

  
Lee chuckled darkly. "You deserved it."

  
"Yeah maybe. I was on a power trip working for Oswald. We were going to take over the city." Ed smiled sadly, and took a sip out of the green concoction in his hand. Lee stared at him pointedly, but Ed was lost in his memories. The man truly was an idiot.

  
"No, that punch was for Kristen." Lee clarified, and Ed sagged.

  
"I deserve worse for her." Ed said quietly. The sorrow in his voice took Lee aback, she had expected him to brush it off. Just like he did months ago when he sauntered into the GCPD, hounding the Red Hood gang. The man sitting before Lee was broken, and just bringing up Kristen's name seemed to have caused him to shrink in on himself further.

  
"Ed, what happened with her? You guys were so happy."

  
"I... I killed her."

  
"Well yeah," Lee sighed. "But why?"

  
"Lee I'm not sane. And I know what you're thinking. Of course not Ed, you were at Arkham and have killed people and worked closely with Penguin and honestly thought it would work out well." Ed ranted and Lee put a hand on his shoulder awkwardly, calming him somewhat. He took a deep breath. "But I have this voice in my head, and it.. it tells me things."

  
Lee blinked slowly. "Like?"

  
"Well first it helped me. Kristen never would've looked twice at me if I hadn't followed his instructions. He got me a date with her." Lee didn't miss Ed referring to his voice as a separate person.

  
"After you killed her boyfriend." Lee pointed out and Ed smiled darkly. She had read in his file that that was his first accredited murder. He obviously didn't regret that one.

  
"Well yeah. Talk about deserving to be killed though."

  
"You didn't think about how that would affect her?"

  
"I helped her. She deserved better than that..." but Ed was at a loss for words. He hadn't thought about that. "I thought she'd be happy he was gone. But she was so sad... and then so angry."

  
"Most people would be angry if you killed their significant other, even if it was a bad relationship. I'm sure you can relate, now." Lee said pointedly, and Ed glared up at her.

  
"Isabella was the love of my life and-"

  
"Yeah yeah all of Gotham knows. Oswald killed her. But don't you see, this is probably how Kristen felt." Lee ground out, not wanting to hear Ed's _'Isabellah'_ rant again. Everyone in the Narrows had heard Ed complain at some point, either loudly when he had too much to drink, or in snide remarks whenever Penguin's name eventually came up.

  
Ed looked shocked, the parallels between him and Kristen had apparently never crossed his mind. His face expressed the emotional journey he must be taking right then, and Lee took another swig out of her flask. She didn't have anything to do for another hour or so, so she can sit with Ed for a bit. They had been friends at one point. She owed him that, at least.

  
"I.. never realized." Ed started and Lee rolled her eyes.

  
"I'll give you a pass since your brain isn't what it used to be."

  
Lee leaned over and swatted Ed's hands away from his face. As she inspected his nose, Ed wouldn't stop staring at her.

  
"What?" She ground out, focusing on his eyes. They were soft, betraying his thoughts.

  
"You were close with Kristen. Was she happy?"

  
Lee sighed and gently put the ice pack back on Ed's nose, hiding his sensitive expression.

  
"Yeah Ed. She was. While it lasted. She thought you were hiding something from her though." Lee felt Ed's shoulders shake, either from laughter or sobs, she couldn't tell.

  
"My other self. I tried to tell her, but she didn't believe me." His voice was choked up. "Said we all have voices in our head."

  
Lee blinked. So he had tried to open up to her. But when? The last time she'd spoken with Kristen had been the day Ed brought her coffee, they'd had a date that night. The night she disappeared.

  
"That night was going so well." Ed sobbed, pressing his face into the ice pack. It was half melted, and Lee politely ignored the tears wetting the cloth around it. "She accepted me, finally slept with me and it felt like everything was going to be perfect. Then I had to open my stupid mouth and talk about Dougherty." Ed slammed his fists into his head angrily, and Lee grabbed his wrists. That wouldn't help his nose heal.

  
"Ed," Lee started but Ed ignored her.

  
"I thought she'd be happy he was gone! She was so scared, I just wanted to help her!" Ed screamed, rounding on Lee. She put her hands up defensively, her gun burning against her thigh. "Everything happened so fast, she was going to tell on me, she was going to leave! I couldn't let her, she wouldn't come back."

  
Ed broke down into heavy sobs, collapsing on the bar. He threw the Grasshopper across the room and it shattered. "I couldn't let her leave."

  
Lee exhaled and carefully put a hand on Ed's shoulder. He shuddered away from her and she let her arm drop. They stayed like that for a while, Ed shaking violently and Lee sitting next to him. She took another drink out of her flask, and offered Ed a sip. He looked up at her, his eyes rimmed red, and grabbed it. He drank until there was none left, then handed it back to Lee. She raised her eyebrows but quietly put it away. She supposed he needed something stronger than whatever he had before.

  
"I tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't listen." Ed started again, slowly. "She kept trying to leave so I grabbed her. She smashed a glass on my head, and that just made everything so fuzzy. I covered her mouth, I thought that would help her listen but I didn't know she couldn't breathe."

  
Ed turned to Lee, his eyes pleading with her. "I swear I didn't know she was choking."

  
"I believe you Ed. But that doesn't change the fact that you killed her."

  
"You think I don't know that?!" Ed screamed, and he stood up so fast Lee almost fell off the bar stool. Her gun was out and pointed at him but he didn't seem to notice. "You don't think I'm haunted by the fact that I killed the love of my life? You think I don't see her every time I look in the mirror? That a piece of me died with her?"

  
"She loved you, Ed." Lee said carefully, the gun solid in her grip. "I won't disagree with you about Tom Dougherty, he was a walking piece of shit. But you can't get mad at Kristen for how she reacted."

  
For a second, Lee was sure Ed was going to lunge at her but he slowly deflated. He sat back down at the bar and looked at his hands despondently.

  
"Yeah." he chuckled sadly. "I guess I know how that feels now. Karma and all that."

  
Lee carefully lowered her gun and put it away. But she didn't sit back down.

  
"You know, Isabella was my second chance with Kristen." Ed stated simply. He reached behind the bar and grabbed a glass and some bourbon.

  
"They're two seperate people." Lee said, watching Ed pour himself a stiff drink. At noon on a weekday. He smiled grimly.

  
"You say that, and I know, but it was so easy to believe I could do it right this time. Do her right."

  
Lee inhaled, everything clicking into place. Ed's intense mourning over the woman he'd known for less than two weeks. Isabella's weird resemblance of Kristen (Lee had seen the obituary photo. It really was uncanny). Oswald's supposed claims that the relationship hadn't been healthy. It all made sense.

  
"And Oswald took that away from me. Said I'd be the one to ruin it so he did me a favor." Ed grumbled, impersonating Oswald at the end. "And the funny thing?"

  
Ed looked at Lee, his cold eyes contrasting sharply with the still damp tears on his face. "I felt peaceful after Kristen... died. It was like I merged with that voice that I hated so much. We became a team. We buried Kristen, I rescued Oswald, and no matter how hard I tried, history repeated itself."

  
He held up his glass in a mock toast and downed it all in one go. He grimaced, but never broke eye contact with Lee.

  
"So thats what happened with Kristen. Any other questions, Doctor Thompkins?"

  
No one knew what had happened with Kristen Kringle. Sure all the cops at the GCPD wrote it off as a lovers quarrel and that Ed was obviously a psychopath. Everyone claimed they knew he would pull something like that, it had only been a matter of time. But no one knew why. Jim, in all his rush to make himself look good to Barnes again, had completely ignored procedure on the Kringle case. They found the body (thanks to Ed's paranoia), bagged the bad guy, and shipped him off to Arkham. He didn't even stand trial. The cops had moved on fairly quickly. Everyone had forgotten about Kristen less than a week later, everyone but Lee.

  
Kristen had been one of her best friends, one of the first people to welcome her to the male-dominated police department. They'd had many lunch dates, talking about Jim and Ed and how weird Gotham's cases seemed to get. It had been really nice, finally having someone to talk to about Jim being weird and then understand what she was going through. Lee had been genuinely heartbroken to hear Kristen had left without even saying goodbye. Ed had seemed distraught too, but now Lee knew why.

  
"Thank you, Ed." she said quietly, and he looked back up at her. He looked shocked. "I know that was hard to talk about."

  
"Only you and Oswald know." Ed muttered, fidgeting with the empty bourbon glass in front of him. There was a blush forming on his cheeks.

  
Lee gently grabbed the abandoned ice pack, which was now fully melted.

  
"I'm going to grab you more ice. I have a feeling your headache is worse now." Lee started to walk away.

  
"Actually," Ed said, smiling. "Its starting to feel better."


End file.
